Hernán Cortés, on his march to Honduras in 1523, came through Tayasal with an army of Spaniards and about 600 Chontal Mayas in pursuit of Cristóbal de Olid, shortly after he had hanged the Aztec king Cuauhtémoc at Itzamkanac. He met the Itzá ruler, Ah Kaan Ek ("Black Snake", Hispanicized Canek), and held a Catholic mass with him. The Spaniards left a dying horse behind. Fearing that the Spaniards would blame the Itzá for the horse's death, they built a wooden horse as a replacement...
In 1618, two Jesuit priests, accompanied by several hundred indigenous people from Belize, visited the town of Tah Itzá and were initially received warmly. When the priests saw that the Itzá worshipped the wooden horse Tzimin Chac ("Horse of Thunder"), built during the time of Cortés, they destroyed it and a fight broke out. The ruler of the Itzá, also named Ah Kaan Ek, had the Spaniards expelled.
Source: Wikipedia